I was suprised we don't have a thread for this yet, but I guess since blizzard is so stingy with the news its not unexpected.

Anyways, straight outta GamesCom we have details on the crafting system!

Looks fast, slick, and unobtrusive. I love how you can break down the "big loot" into crafting shit so you don't have to TP to town constantly to sell big things like armor.

Update with some details on the caravan:

QUOTE

Diablo III Caravan FAQQ: What is the caravan?A: The caravan is a persistent group that follows the heroes across Sanctuary, providing a centralized hub for players to find quest givers, crafters, and other important NPCs. As your character moves through the world so too will your loyal band, setting up in specific locations to remain close by should you need them.

Q: Who are the artisans?A: In order to access the professions in Diablo III, you’ll need to gain the loyalty of various artisans through your travels in Sanctuary. The blacksmith, mystic, and jeweler will each provide unique services over the course of the game.

Q: What do the artisans offer?A: Skilling up your artisans will unlock unique recipes, granting your character access to benefits that may not be found anywhere else in the world. The blacksmith crafts weapons and armor, and can add sockets to some items. The mystic creates scrolls, potions, magical weapons, spell runes, and charms, and can also enchant items. The jeweler crafts gems , amulets, and rings. The jeweler can also remove gems from socketed items and can combine gems to improve their quality.

Q: How do I find the artisans?A: Finding the artisans will be part of the main quest. Each artisan has been fleshed out to include their own story and quest line.

Q: How do I use the artisans?A: You’ll collect loot as a reward for slaughtering the forces of the Burning Hells. Unwanted items can be salvaged in your inventory, converting these goods into raw crafting materials—higher-level items are salvaged into higher-level materials. You’ll then take those raw materials and hand them over to the artisans, putting them to work crafting or enchanting for you. Upon returning to the caravan after a lengthy foray, you may also find that the artisans have been hard at work plying their trade for your benefit.

Q: How do I salvage my items?A: Players will find an item while progressing through the main quest that will allow them to convert unwanted gear into crafting materials from the inventory. This item will not take up any inventory space. This should be a more satisfying option for offloading unwanted loot than the alternative—dropping things on the ground or making frequent trips to a vendor.

Q: Why are you including crafting professions in an action game?A: Professions add depth to the item collection gameplay that drives the action of Diablo III. We want to provide players with an alternative way to acquire gear, potions, and other randomly found items. We also want to provide additional forms of customization for players—adding jewels, enchants, or sockets to existing gear allows players to further tailor their characters. Many rare crafting recipes and materials are only found as world drops, enhancing the item acquisition process by increasing the diversity of items dropped by monsters.

After 3 years, "Diablo 3" fans have likely learned that expecting a release date anytime soon is purely self-torture and that the game will be finished "when it's done." After all, this is Blizzard we're talking about. Those same fans do have something to look forward to, though: the "Diablo 3" external beta, which we first reported on back in May. At that time, the beta was targeting the third quarter of 2011, which officially starts in just over a week. So will the world will get its first taste of "Diablo 3" in July? Absolutely, 100% not.

How do I know this? It's simple, really. Seems that Blizzard is holding a July press event dedicated to the "Diablo 3" beta at their campus in California. Information and assets from that event are embargoed until August 1, which means the beta won't be out before then...unless Blizzard really wants to screw over those in attendance of the event, which seems unlikely.

It does, however, bode well for the progress of the beta, which will likely launch in a relatively short span of time after the August 1 date. Granted, that's a big assumption to make, given that this is Blizzard, but we're an optimistic bunch and there's no point in promoting a beta that's still months away. (Then again, there's no point in promoting a game that's three years away, but hey, what do I know?)

Since the event is dedicated solely to the "Diablo 3" beta, we expect to learn some of the more pertinent details about its release, including the release date, contents and how folks will be able to register to participate. If I were to guess, I'd say it'll at least include some PvP elements, as a wide-scale beta is the best way to put class balancing through the ringer.

So, "Diablo 3" fans: Mark your calendars for August 1. Should be a doozie of a day.

You will be able to sell items for real life money on the auction house. This takes micro transactions to the next level. I think it is genius on Blizzard's part. What a great way to keep people playing Diablo 3. And then when their next MMO comes out you can use your battle.net funds to pay for the subscription (very advantageous if one also plays WoW, not to mention premium mods for Star Craft 2 that is in the works too).

Knightsword

Aug 1 2011, 08:26 AM

Blizzard is also requiring an alway on internet connection to prevent cheating and the like

QUOTE

The other substantial, but perhaps not unexpected, game changer is the requirement that all Diablo III players be online to play Blizzard's next game, even if they plan on slaying demons solo. Blizzard says it's implementing the internet connection requirement to combat cheating and improve the overall multiplayer experience—plus keep its new, player-run economy stable. That may prove a controversial stipulation, not being able to play a game of Diablo without an internet connection, but it's the new Auction House, the eBay-like market that enables players to exchange virtual goods for in-game gold or real money that is perhaps Blizzard's most surprising change.

Blizzard creates a real supply and demand economy, and "if" they wanted to they can increase their profit by manipulating the money supply (ie. drop rates and gold supply).Blizzard's been learning a thing or two from EA. If I were a game developer, I think it's great for the developer because it allows free to play models to work. As a gamer, game currency to real cash always bothered me. Maybe because developers could totally exploit it to the max.

I honestly think it will work out well for Blizzard from a profitability stand point.

Scan_Man

Aug 3 2011, 06:52 PM

"The beta test approaches! We’ve just updated our System Check program and would like everyone to update their Battle.net Beta Profile information by running the new one. You should do this regardless of whether there have been hardware changes made to your system. "

Yeah, this RM AH thing basically turns every Diablo player into a slave labor for Blizzard. Even if you're the type who balks at the idea of buying a virtual item for your character, who can resist the idea of selling a rare that you got that you won't use for real life money? Blizz skims a few cents off each transaction as someone inevitably buys your Erect Hammer of Boning +3 and continues to rake in the dough.

Knightsword

Nov 15 2011, 10:54 AM

I got invited to the beta yesterday and spent enough time with it to play through the entire area that they had available. It looks and feels very much like what it's suppose to be, Diablo. The graphics are nice the music is right, it uses the classic sound effects and what not. I played the monk, and yes it is very much assassin 2.0. The monk can dual wield any one handed weapon, including spears. There isn't any auto attacking, left click for spirit building attack and right click for special attack, there is also a hot bar where you can place abilities or on use items such as potions (which finally stack). As you play through you get access to one of the companions, the black smith, access to I think level 30 and the skills up to that level, save Deckard Cain yet again and visit Tristam and the Cathedral, and others. There were no cinimatics and some story elements were not included.

Scan_Man

Nov 15 2011, 08:36 PM

I did the free copy thing since I play WoW and don't plan to stop playing in the next year. So awesome of Blizzard to offer such a deal. Still kinda looking more forward to Torchlight II than this though.

Seems they can't get the skills system right, I think is the reason it is taking them so long to release it. It's been changed a ton of times this year and even recently.

Crushinator

Dec 12 2011, 11:44 PM

Scan_Man

Dec 13 2011, 12:15 PM

I've played a ton of beta. The game is polish as hell. If you've played a hack and slash in the past 10 years you will immediately notice the "quality of life" improvements. Everything is focused on keeping you hacking and slashing, and not management of things like inventory (inventory tetris) and stats. I have never have to stop and figure out which loot I want to pick up or leave, and what items in my inventory I want to drop. Essentially I never have to go back to town.

Also you can be a loot whore if you want to be a loot whore, since everyone get's their own private loot drops. No more suppressing your loot whoring ways because you are in a multiplayer game that people might get mad and kick you.

The only bad thing I can think of is the requirement of being online. I know it's beta, and server stability is not going to be perfect. But man, blowing shit up then all of a sudden enemies stop attack and my spell stop working is annoying as hell. Same when you want to get your Diablo fix and the servers are over capacity. Not saying it will be this bad at launch, but the chance of it happening will still be there.

Lastly, I hear the game was delayed because Blizzard came up with the 1 year contract on WoW thing. They want to lock as many people in as possible. Then there is also the Real Money Auction House. They have to wait for approval in the Korean market, according to the Korean battle.net Diablo site. So that is a hold up too.

Crushinator

Dec 15 2011, 09:39 AM

QUOTE(Scan_Man @ Dec 13 2011, 11:15 AM)

I've played a ton of beta. The game is polish as hell.

Scan_Man

Dec 15 2011, 02:30 PM

I meant polished. A simple mistake, but should be easy to figure out since I used polish in the context of a video game and did not capitalize the "p." Or do you read read as read when it should be read?

Since you brought it up. . . . Speaking of games from Poland because, you know, I actually try to discuss gaming and games here. I've been quite impressed by Polish game developers this year. The Witcher 2 > Skyrim in terms of interesting and meaningful quests (I prefer to take quality over quantity). Graphics on the Witcher 2 is still best right now; sorry Battlefield 3. How dialogue choices and consequences are handled is the best I've seen in a Western RPG (actually to my surprise The Old Republic has some quests that almost take it this far). A Polish game developer did Bulletstorm, another favorite game of mine this year. Another one also did Dead Island; really good for a brand new IP.

Game over, bros! Time to play some decent action rpg multi-player for a change

Scan_Man

Mar 15 2012, 03:51 PM

Finally! Been going crazy for this game. I have over 150 hours played on the beta, and that is only a very small part of Act 1. I can only imagine how much I will be playing the final game.

Real money auction house is going to be great for everyone to use. Blizzard removed the listing fee requirement, so you can just throw up anything on the auction house without a penalty.

AC9breaker

Mar 15 2012, 06:44 PM

Wehlp, guess it's about time I invest in a serious gaming Laptop. Suggestions?

Crushinator

Mar 20 2012, 09:59 AM

QUOTE(AC9breaker @ Mar 15 2012, 05:44 PM)

Wehlp, guess it's about time I invest in a serious gaming Laptop. Suggestions?

Yay, new computer hardware!

For a windows gaming Laptop, my first choice is usually Asus ROG. For some reason these are a little hard to track down now, but i'd suggest the 15" G53JW or G53SX. The SX has a beefier graphics card in the GTX 560M, but they're both good.

Alienware has actually scaled back the garish case designs on their laptops, and the M11x is an 11" netbook-sized gaming system. If you want ultra-portability there isn't a better choice, but your overall performance will not be as good as with a full sized system. I'd recommend the M14x as the best balance between size (14.1") and power. Make sure to opt for the 1600x900 screen upgrade.

I've never dealt with iBuyPower, but i have used the same hardware they build their systems with, and its solid. They're definitely one of the cheaper options, and I've heard positive things about their customer service. The Battalion 101 CZ-12 -- and the default configuration includes an i7 and 540m graphics card, at $1149, easily the lower price around.

If you want to cross over to Mac, I'd suggest the 15" Macbook Pro. Its actually going to offer the weakest graphics card option of any of these choices, but I am a HUGE fan of the hardware design and tactile feel of Macs. You're limited to two options for graphics, AMD 6750m 512mb or the AMD 6770m 1GB, and you pay quite the fee to jump to the higher one. One thing to keep in mind is that if you DO go Mac, hold off till they announce the new designs for MacBooks (this april?) and the prices of the current models will drop quite a bit, so you can probably snag one for a (comparative) song.

i5 CPUs are good, i7 is even better if its in your budget. Don't get an i3 on a gaming system or you will be sad.

Opt for 8GB of ram if possible.

For your OS, don't splash for Win7 Ultimate, not worth the perks if your'e just gaming. Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit is the best choice.

Given the choice for a higher res screen, take it.

Don't get a blu-ray drive on the computer, just use an HD streaming service like Netflix or Hulu (or download HD-rips of your movies ).

Hard drive size is probably not a concern, but don't go lower than 500 GB, and if given the option get a 7200rpm drive to decrease load times.

I know that 17"+ screens look badass, but for practical purposes they kill portability and battery life. Thats why all my recommendations have been 14-16".

These suggestions are for powerful but moderately priced ($1100-$1800) specs, if you wanna ball ridiculous you can go crazy and easily spend over $3k to get the best of the best, but you'll see diminishing returns.

Henge

Apr 16 2012, 10:43 AM

Really looking forward to this. Just one month away now, woo~

Crushinator

Apr 20 2012, 11:16 AM

For anyone who didn't get an invite, they are opening up the beta to all battle.net accounts for this weekend for a stress test:

I'm doing a release party and marathon livestreamed on twitch.tv if anyone is interested. All day Tuesday for completion of Normal mode. Then all that weekend hopefully to get to level 60.

Game is about 15-20 hours to get through normal mode according to the devs. But the marathon is to get people together and find some games and trade items.

Crushinator

May 1 2012, 09:00 PM

I'll be doing a straight-run through normal too, all in one sitting. Or at the very least play from midnight until I pass out.

What class is everyone planning on starting with? After playing the beta, I've confirmed that Witch Doctor is my starting class. Way fun to play, and pretty powerful to boot.

Scan_Man

May 1 2012, 09:04 PM

I'm doing wizard since I put a ton of time researching abilities. I like the monk too, but more for party purposes.

Crushinator

May 1 2012, 10:49 PM

Yeah, wizard is definitely my 2nd choice for character. I think it will shape up to be the most powerful.

I really disliked Demon Hunter at first, but after playing it a lot more I love the technical aspects of the class. You really need to be in control of the battlefield to be effective, but when you are you can tear the badguys apart.

The installer will be unlocked at 8:01pm PST on March 14th, so we can start installing before the actual launch. (I was worried about this, that i'd have to be stuck installing for 30+ mins when i could be playing!)

The US region servers go live at 12:01am PST on March 15th, so plan your time zone accordingly

Hopefully the wait queues to make a game won't be too long, and there aren't any horrific server problems patching the game after we install.

Pretty badass animated short showing the original battles between Diablo and the arch-angels. GET HYPE!

Scan_Man

May 19 2012, 02:34 PM

So Diablo has been killed on Inferno. Very disappointing I must say. The problem is the Act bosses are too easy, so you can just corpse hop and skip all the trash just to down the bosses. I know Blizzard wants people to focus on the item hunt, but what is the point of farming gear if to beat the game does not require the gear? It seems kind of broken.

Now the Champion monsters are hard as hell, which why people came up with ways to skip them. Blizzard has said before release the point of inferno was to take down Champions to farm gear so you can do the next Act. As of now this is completely trivialized because it is not necessary. Also, in my experience most people like to take the path of least resistance when it comes to difficult things if the path is available. Lastly, if the gear is not required does that not fuck over Blizzard's Real Auction Money House? They delayed it a week, maybe this is to get a patch up that fixes inferno before then? You know can't have everyone flooding the market with Inferno rares. It would seem they only intended a few people able to do inferno and put items on Auction house, so the masses will buy gear because they perceive it would give them an easier time.

Then again the masses don't know much about the game; like there is an elective mode that allows you to make better skill builds.

Game is fun as hell and I know will be playing through Inferno a ton with all the characters. But the whole thing seems a bit diminished with the bosses being so easy compared to the trash. The bosses are easy because they have set mechanics that are not hard. Hope Blizzard at the very least fixes some of these "clever use of game mechanics."

Crushinator

May 21 2012, 10:59 AM

So you wanted to beat normal in 7 hours, but you're disappointed that someone has already finished inferno a week after the game has released? Isn't it par for the course among WoW players to blast through the content of an entire expansion within hours anyways, just to say they did it first? I don't think you can really expect any less from Diablo players.

Running past shit just to beat the game seems pointless anyhow. I understand the drive to "first" inferno and all, but the whole Nephalem Valor bonus is based on killing elites/uniques on your way to the boss to increase the MF% to get good drops on the final encounters.

These guys are "beating" the game but they aren't getting "da loot" which is the whole point of the game.

I don't think this a problem that needs to be "Fixed" at this point on Blizzards part, because its just grind players gaming the game to do whatever pleases them. Because of the nature of Diablo 3, how anyone else is playing the game has no impact on me, or the games I play with my friends, so its inconsequential.

I know I personally am looking forward to brutal encounters in inferno for the challenge alone, and to deck my guy out even better for when the PVP Arenas are released.

That hack appears to be just one of many that have started being reported by Diablo III fans around the world. Hacking victims are reporting gold and items being looted as well as accounts simply being taken over. It has been alleged that the Blizzard Authenticator is simply ineffective at preventing the takeovers.

Reports are suggesting that hackers are using a security flaw in the Battle.net sessions identifier system. Hackers are able to 'jump into' accounts without alerting Blizzard authentication processes at all. This theory remains speculation, but is gaining ground by users on the Blizzard forums.

Blizzard has not yet confirmed any account hackings to date, and will not return any items lost to players who have had their accounts taken over. They are simply 'rolling back' accounts to a point before the event takes place.

Interestingly, the rumors happened just before Blizzard took Diablo III offline yet again on Sunday. Servers were down for the EU side for around 4 hours, in which it was alleged an SQL injection attack took place.

Blizzard has not commented on the matter. GamesIndustry International has reached out to Blizzard but has yet to receive any response.

Scan_Man

May 21 2012, 05:59 PM

QUOTE(Crushinator @ May 21 2012, 10:59 AM)

So you wanted to beat normal in 7 hours, but you're disappointed that someone has already finished inferno a week after the game has released? Isn't it par for the course among WoW players to blast through the content of an entire expansion within hours anyways, just to say they did it first? I don't think you can really expect any less from Diablo players.

Running past shit just to beat the game seems pointless anyhow. I understand the drive to "first" inferno and all, but the whole Nephalem Valor bonus is based on killing elites/uniques on your way to the boss to increase the MF% to get good drops on the final encounters.

These guys are "beating" the game but they aren't getting "da loot" which is the whole point of the game.

I don't think this a problem that needs to be "Fixed" at this point on Blizzards part, because its just grind players gaming the game to do whatever pleases them. Because of the nature of Diablo 3, how anyone else is playing the game has no impact on me, or the games I play with my friends, so its inconsequential.

I know I personally am looking forward to brutal encounters in inferno for the challenge alone, and to deck my guy out even better for when the PVP Arenas are released.

Me wanting to beat "very easy" normal mode in a short amount of time in order to play a difficulty that is more my speed has nothing to do with my disappointment. Red herring man.

No, part of my disappointment that the bosses are too easy. And I don't like the gameplay decision of the ability to rez endless amount of times in multiplayer since you do not have the equivalent when you are playing solo. It trivializes the challenge in some areas when you play multiplayer.

The point of running past stuff at first is to have more areas available to farm. Originally, Inferno was going to be a flat difficulty and any area would be on the table. But they changed it because players wanted the game to get harder as you go and require you to farm an ACT to be able to do the next ACT. So Blizzard listened to players and made the change to make the ACTS become progressively harder . However, right now it is unnecessary to farm early ACTS because you can get access to later ones so easily. This is a problem with the stated design goal by Blizzard.

I don't care what other people do. You can't make these bosses hard just by adding more HP and damage since I can avoid all the damage on them. It's a mechanics thing, they are just not hard at all. Yeah there is mistakes to be made but you just gear for that and pump the rest into damage. This is something that I am personally finding. This has nothing to do with other people for me. I personally find the bosses a big disappointment in the area of challenge. It feels uneven to me and this has to do with my personal taste when it comes to challenge in games. This is one of a few things I don't like about the game and I am allowed to not like an aspect of the game.

Now with these rushers they are most definitely farming loot. There are tricks that make the intended farming aspect of the game trivial, this is what I am referring to. This does indeed need to be fixed, especially since an Auction House is part of the game economy. Like the fact you can corpse hop to champion packs you feel confident to downing and get your Valor up. Then corpse hop to a resplendent chest you know will spawn 50% of the time once you have your 5 stacks of Valor, loot chest then reload the game. Or even corpse hop to the boss once you have your stacks. If you have the others ACTS open to you, gear from the later ACTS are going to have a HUGE boost in stats because the gear is so much better. The easy bosses makes this barrier even easier. It's not just the bosses, it is other things with that combined. Why is porting to dead players in the game?

Part of the farming game in Diablo is finding the most efficient farming methods. As of right now these methods are more efficient for farming then clearing all the Champion packs in the ACT. Jay Wilson stated he wants players to farm all the rare monsters in an ACT for the best gear so you can move to the next. But with the Valor buff and how that works farming 5 packs then going for a chest or boss is more efficient (which was added at the last minute to make downing boss lucrative, it was not part of the game until a few months before release).

Some of this stuff I think needs to be looked at because it needs to be tougher to be able run past stuff. Not being able to run past that was the impression I was given by Blizzard leading up to the release based on interviews. Jay Wilson also stated in interviews they don't want people running past stuff, which why they made teleport a limited amount of times you can cast as one of example.

The fact is as of now ACT I and most of ACT II is not worth farming because you can open up ACT III and IV so easily and have access to the best loot using the methods I described above. I see this as a problem with the endgame. People will clear the whole thing for challenge, but the farming game is a bit messed up right now. By the fact you can trivialize it a bit by the constant rezzing and and teleporting onto dead players. There are enrage timers for champions in Inferno, but you can reset those.

Crushinator

May 22 2012, 05:12 PM

So will YOU also be taking this "path of least resistance"? I don't see how the fact that this corpse hopping trick exists impacts the way you can enjoy the game. Just because the warp zones exist in Super Mario Bros doesn't mean you HAVE to use them every time you played the game, right? You can still enjoy the challenge of every level. Same concept here.

If you think the pattern-based boss encounters are too easy, I have no argument with that. I personally find it refreshing, to have a "gamey" element like this for this big encounters rather than the old D2 "run up and mash the bosses face with your 1-2 best powers till he's dead" style of boss fights. But as you stated the random elite/unique mobs are the real challenge anyways.

You say you like a certain level of challenge in the game, but you're disappointed that its possible to skip past the challenging parts? The vibe I'm getting from your post is that you feel like you need to use these same shitty grinder strategies to "keep up"... but with who? You said yourself that you don't care what other people do. If you think grouping makes a boss too easy, then do it solo. If you are getting your ass kicked by hard elite mobs, then gear up and go kick their ass in revengeance.

If being able to willfully avoid combat in inferno ruins Diablo 3's endgame for you, then why even continue playing at this point? You can just run past everything and get to the boss, you don't need gear (?) specifically to kill them in inferno because they're so easy... beat it, get the achievements, and put it on the shelf till the expansion pack comes out?

I just can't see your rage at this, because it's entirely avoidable based on your playstyle. To me its like "oh this is a neat trick, I guess that's one way to get past inferno without having to massively grind gear", then back to playing Diablo 3 the way I like it, having fun.

Scan_Man

May 23 2012, 02:21 PM

Your "vibes" are incorrect. I am not talking about how this impacts my enjoyment of the game. I purposely avoided that. I go on these long post when I see there is a misunderstanding and to address points. For example, you said "running past shit just to beat the game is pointless." That is factually wrong. Which is why I described what the point is. Whether you, I, or anyone skips stuff or not does not change that skipping monsters in Inferno factually has a purpose. I get where you are coming from on the "just enjoy the game" but that is not the point of view I was taking. Your point is valid.

Of you course you don't see how it impacts my game because I never stated such nor intended to. My initial disappointment does have to do with the fact Jay Wilson said they had their very best hardcore players spawned with perfect gear as an Inferno focused strike team (as oppose to testers that progress normally, 1-60). He said they could not defeat any boss in Inferno. Add to the fact the difficulty was tuned upward 2x for release compared to testing. From my point of view it is disappointing because the mechanics of the bosses are not hard even when you add more HP and damage. I am allowed to be disappointed with a part of a game based on expectations. Most everyone has something not live up to expectations at one point in their lives (mostly universal human truth here). I'll live lol. That is all there is to it for me. It stops with me just being disappointed with that part of the game. Nothing further.

You are assuming (or unsure?) I think I need to play the game a certain way just because I described those playstyles and methods of other people? I don't get how you receive these so called vibes when I did not state how I plan to play Inferno. Honestly, I have not decided what I will do with Inferno because I am not there yet. But I am likely leaning toward a full "as intended" clear and farming both solo and group. But this is also dependent on if I choose to participate in the Real Money Auction House or not. Or how much participation? Which is up in the air for me right for a couple reasons, one being I don't think Auction House performance is up to par (I've had it eat 20k gold, I am not the only one that has lost gold or items). Two, going through the auction house takes time away from playing the game. Lastly, there are a ton of class changes coming that will have some impact, where entire runes are getting removed from the game until Blizzard comes up with a new one (making a class incomplete or broken temporarily). So decisions, for later.

On the point of me liking a challenge. I am not competing with anyone. I say it should be tougher to escape monsters because Blizzard has stated players will not be able to outrun monsters in Inferno; you know as a feature, like PVP *cough* (I can pull up the quotes if I have to). The way the mechanics work, making it so one does not have the option to run does make the game harder for those that do not plan to run, ie monsters are more aggressive and faster. Again not stating how this impacts my enjoyment here.

An aside: I've found the scaling from single player to multiplayer to be quite balanced. As in fighting stuff feels the same in terms of difficulty and length; as I think it should be. However, the rezzing and banner teleporting while someone is dead kind of throws that balance off. It does diminish the challenge of multiplayer just a bit when the monster scaling for multiple players is otherwise great. Saying just go play solo is missing/ignoring the point.

I am just matching up what Blizzard has said about Inferno as a game feature, and what it actually is right now. It's for the sake of discussing the game.

Here's some recent quotes from Blizzard:

"People kiting the Skeleton King around for an hour with their level 3 characters is fun to see. It's not fun when it's level 60's at end game and item drops matter. To make these kills and thus a character's progression matter we need to try to fight cheesy tactics that allow people to just flop through the game."

- This is why I said stuff needs to be fixed. Because they have acknowledge many times in the past year they want all players playing Inferno a certain way (clearing everything to farm for the next ACT). This is looking at Blizzard's design goals objectively and saying this is not meeting that goal. Here it is Blizzard saying cheesy tactics affect the importance of character progression. They are saying boss kills should matter as part of character progression. However, factually they don't matter right now because of cheesy tactics and difficulty I might add. What I have been saying makes sense from a game design standpoint and from Blizzard's stated design goals of Inferno. I am not speaking on a personal enjoyment of the game level here nor was I ever. I don't think I can be any clearer here.

"The point of the game is efficiency... Killing monsters as quickly as possible to maximize your time to find the drops you want. That is the game. I think you should do whatever you think is fun, absolutely, but if you want to go at a slower pace, not really worry much about maximizing efficiency, and just kind of take it at your own speed you're going to have a pretty rough time in Nightmare let alone Inferno."

"With the Nephalem Valor buff the best loot is off champions, rares, and (assuming the buff is up) bosses. As I said the point is ensuring "legitimate" progression."

- Basically saying slower pace over efficiency is doing it wrong in Diablo III! LOL! But, no. Put the three quotes, along with other info, together it basically says they want the game to be about clearing the ACTS as part of character progression. That is what constitutes legitimate progression; clearing the champions, rares, and bosses for loot so you have the gear to do the next ACT. Do so quickly is in order to maximize your drops. Cheesy tactics are not legitimate progression. This is in line with what Blizzard has been saying about Inferno since the change to a progressive difficulty. They want to ensure legitimate progression. Do you see the problem now? Skipping monsters to clear all the ACT bosses is flopping through the game. Completely skipping ACT I and II farming is mathematically and factually unnecessary; more flopping through the game. It's not "working as intended" as Blizzard likes to say. There is more to it though, like how it affects the Real Money Auction House . I'll put the analysis hat away for now. This is objectively based on what Blizzard wants for the game. The logical conclusion is if it is not what Blizzard intended it should be fixed.

There nothing else to it. The bosses being easy as a dissappointment and not liking how the rez and banner teleporting is implemented as a game mechanic is the only personal thoughts I have mentioned on the game before now. The latter does indeed lessens the difficulty a bit in multiplayer which otherwise scales excellently compared to single player. Saying just go play solo misses/ignores the point. But, I explicitly mentioned these things on purpose and explicitly did not mention how it impacts my enjoyment. See? I have yet to say if this and that has made the game less fun or ruined it. In fact I said the game is "fun as hell." I then said the "whole thing seems diminished" (less important) because it's true from a progression design standpoint (assuming things progressively get harder); as I already explained based on what Blizzard has said it would be. That's Blizzard saying progression should matter, and I agree with them (based on personal taste when it comes to challenge as I a said). Still, I did not say diminished progression impacts my enjoyment. Nor did I state I will be trivializing the intended progression.

I am spelling stuff out here because you interpret me based on vibes that are in your head. That is not my problem and lies totally within you. But just to let you know I do state things explicitly on purpose, so there is no implicit meaning to look for and receive vibes off of. My posts become long for this very reason, so to avoid room for implicit interpretation or vibes.

Anyway, this is me looking at the the game and meta-game and picking it apart and editorializing for the sake of stimulating discussion on the inner workings of the game. Not raging. Also, my original post and parts of the second "Now with with these rushers" (slightly edited to address your point that stuff does not need fixing) were blog entries of mine that I copied and pasted here because I wanted to see what you guys thought on the situation. It's reporting. It was intentionally worded to grab attention in order to start discussion and debate on the matter and not entirely to express my true thoughts about the game; just yet. Also, to get people to start talking about the game, since many of us have been spending a ton of time on playing it.

A little about me, so going forward we can minimize this sort of thing. I don't think you guys really know me. I've kind of been the outsider here, and you guys seem to be more close knit. That is my impression any way based on doing the podcast and such. When it comes to video games, my interest are game design, testing process, development, marketing, and business when it comes to the gaming industry. Why? I follow the game industry with deep interest and all aspects. So if something catches my interest outside my actual play experiences, I will bring it up. It's always been the case with me here and elsewhere. Cool?

It's like when I was testing Final Fantasy XIV and came here and told you guys why the game was bad. And you guys argued with me. And then when you guys actually played it, y'all saw first hand that it was garbage. My intentions are not to persuade people to not buy games or to convince others something is bad based on my taste. Just offer my perspective. And my perspective is someone who tries to play all the major releases, as well as indy releases, and follows all aspects of the gaming industry very closely. This includes the development process. It's a hobby but it is also how I game. I am not claiming to be an authority, just offer a perspective.

I only try to discuss or mention what I find interesting here though. I've played just about every major release in the last two years. Did I make topics about each one? Nope, because I did not find anything interesting to talk about; has nothing to do with how I personally think about those games.

tanshin

May 23 2012, 05:54 PM

tl;dr

So how does everyone like the game?

Scan_Man

May 23 2012, 07:19 PM

I think the game is great. My only complaint during gameplay is having to deal with server lag. I keep getting rubber-banning, it has really dicked me over when trying avoid frozen orbs, or anything I have move out of for that matter. But I expect latency to improve over time.

The game is addictive for me and I totally lose track of time. My sleeping pattern is totally messed up.

The affixes on monsters I have pretty much found strategies for each combination (I am in Hell difficult ACT III. Though Invulnerable minions is really annoying, especially paired with Illusionist. Surviving them is all about Vit and your damage though I have found.

Abilities like Vortex were annoying to me at first, then I found out you can line of sight it. Also it seems you can the abilities, like there is range factor there and how they cycle through them.

There is a ton of content and quite a few surprises when you go exploring; because of the randomization. Like Development Hell is quite funny if you are a Blizzard fan.

Wish there was an invisible mode for battle tag because some people don't understand "Busy" because you know you are logged in the game. Regret giving my battle out to so many people.

Great game exactly what I expected. I need to chill out on this week because I need to play Dragon's Dogma.

On another note I played Torchlight 2 beta. Really something to try when Diablo III has died down if it does for anyone. Pretty good in a different kind of way. There is a lot things that are unlike Diablo III that I like as far as features go. But that is for another time. And it cost 20 bucks. Hell it will probably be on sale for 5 bucks for a steam sale eventually. Very good value because the game feels like a full 60 dollar release based on what I played.

Crushinator

May 31 2012, 10:15 AM

So now that a few of us are actually in inferno, how are you finding it hands-on? I'm only level 57, but hopefully I can grind out those last few tonight and join you dudes in the slaughter.

Scan_Man

May 31 2012, 07:03 PM

So what do I think about Inferno so far?

First off, if one can beat ACTS III and IV Hell, one can beat ACT I Inferno with some persistence. ACT I is very tough, but with some time investment it's easy to get on farm.

I know a couple people who are where I am at in Inferno, but cleared ACT I Inferno a week before me. I have discussed Inferno with them and read on some forums about what others are thinking. Me and others tend to agree Inferno ACT I and II sucks; but for different reasons.

ACT I Inferno is a nice challenge and you feel accomplished when you finally beat the Butcher (you have 3 minutes to beat him before he enrages). The Butcher is not hard, just can't make mistakes on the first attempt because DPS will be barely there, or one may make mistakes like getting chained.

Now the reason why ACT I Inferno sucks is the loot table is too wide and level 60 ACT I items are underpowered. Like drops from late Nightmare (level 48-49), but the majority is early Hell to late Hell (51-59). Nothing wrong with that in a random loot system on its own, but in combination with the latter it is.

It becomes problematic when the average rare level 60 items does not have the stat budget to fulfill the requirements to get you through ACT II if you roll the stats you need. One needs an insane amount resistance on gear and a ton of HP and hope it does not gimp your DPS. Even with perfect all resist, on the 11 pieces that can have it, from ACT I inferno gear, that is still getting you to 660. One needs about 700 resistance and over 45k HP to not get one-hit-killed in ACT II. You can't get that high off ACT I gear with perfect stats. Not to mention rolling for perfect stats for all resist, vitality, and damage would take years. Even so one will still get one-shotted and monsters will enrage because the DPS is not there.

If the plan is to try and clear the thing without skipping (like I am doing) a ton of monsters, buying some ACT III and IV gear is mandatory. Usually the advice ACT III and IV farmers are saying is just find someone to give you the ACT III checkpoint. Well I want to do it myself.

But yeah ACT II is on a whole other level. It sucks hard. You will get one-hit-killed right from the gate of the first quest. Normal monsters. It's very very miserable to play through if you are not so much into buying items off the Auction House. There is nothing fun about being one-shotted because something jumped on you from off-screen. Many situation there is no chance no matter how skilled or geared because one can die before an ability can be used. The ramp up in damage and difficulty is absurd.

Blizzard says they are going to nerf the spiky damage in a coming patch. So they acknowledge something is wrong here. They also said you should look at the Auction House to pick upgrades and that is factored into drop rates. . . I been using the Auction House minimally because it takes time away from playing. But, the general strategy most people are saying to do is to do Quest 9 (Cursed Hold) Butcher runs to farm gold to buy items so you can do ACT II. From what I have done in ACT II that is not a bad idea.

I've been farming ACT I Quest 9 for gold and for blacksmith and jeweler plans. I actually found a set piece Amulet that was a nice upgrade. I have a couple spots in ACT II I am farming, though it is not efficient. Found a couple lengendaries, one of which I use for a magic find set for ACT I farming. I am brick walled atm on ACT II, but I am happy to farm easier stuff to relax.

Likely going to try to finish ACT II this weekend.

HC82

Jun 1 2012, 09:15 AM

Inferno mode is me screaming like a little boy, running around in circles until my cool-downs are back up. It's pretty smooth until I came across Elites. Definitely from a game-play standpoint, very awkward. My build is entirely defensive and has been that way since Hell. Grinding Act I seems just enough to get me to complete Act I elites comfortably. I get the feeling I can trash the bosses with ease, which means I should probably just plow through the impossible elites like "arcane, fire chains, reflect damage, molten, vampiric, fuck-you-in-the-ass, illusion" bullshit that pops up often. I can deal with some of the purple/gold dudes with reason (ie.kiting), but those 4x blue guys are fucking retarded (ie. not possible without bullshit kiting tactics).

My only gripe is people are buying AH gear that is from Act III and Act IV just to complete Act II because it's so damn difficult. Seems lopsided to me.

Either way, I need to put on my inferno running shoes and start kiting.

AHHHHHHHHHhh!!!!!!!

Crushinator

Jun 1 2012, 01:27 PM

I JUST WANNA KNOW WHERE DA GULD AT!

Thanks to HC, Kaz, and Oddies last night I'm almost at 60, just a few more bubbles to go. Then its NV bonus and grinnnndinnng inferno until my arm falls off.

Scan_Man

Jun 3 2012, 04:46 PM

Ok just beat Belial on Inferno. Holy shit! Now this dude is fucking nuts on Inferno. It a whole week of farming to get through ACT II and beat this guy. About 300k spent getting through ACT II with minimal skipping, that's with repairs and potions. The gear I used is stuff I mostly found from farming ACT I and II, the only items I bought from Auction House were a weapon and my boots (with run speed, very important stat to have). OMG was it miserable though, I do not recommend doing it how I did it.

Now Belial actually took on his own between repairs and potion 1 million gold. Holy shit! All three phases are ridiculous in their own way. For phase three you have to get lucky on the Meteor spawns somewhat; though you can kinda control where some of them spawn based on where you are standing.

In my opinion I think the average joe is going to quit in ACT II if before Blizzard fixes it.

But OMG! Going to go have a heart attack now!

Oddies da Nerfed

Jun 4 2012, 07:45 AM

QUOTE(Scan_Man @ Jun 3 2012, 04:46 PM)

...the only items I bought from Auction House were a weapon and my boots...

Found your problem. Blizz designed the game around using the AH to get your gear. Not using the auction house is crippling in inferno by design.

Scan_Man

Jun 4 2012, 11:28 AM

QUOTE(Oddies da Nerfed @ Jun 4 2012, 07:45 AM)

QUOTE(Scan_Man @ Jun 3 2012, 04:46 PM)

...the only items I bought from Auction House were a weapon and my boots...

Found your problem. Blizz designed the game around using the AH to get your gear. Not using the auction house is crippling in inferno by design.

I know that, I mentioned that in the post before last:

"They also said you should look at the Auction House to pick upgrades and that is factored into drop rates"

However, I intentionally minimized how much I bought on the Auction House to see first hand the "spiky damage" as Blizzard claims and because it takes time away from playing. By design also, you are suppose to be able to do the next ACT by using gear found from the previous ACT. So I kept my gear around ACT I gear levels to see how hard it would be, as a self imposed restriction to challenge myself and to confirm for myself that the damage in ACT II was out of control. And yes, the damage in ACT II is quite unreasonable. ACT III seems a lot tamer in comparison in the same gear from what I have played.

I will be doing ACT II again with ACT III and IV gear this week.

The ultimate reasoning for playing the game in this manner for me is to gather first hand information and knowledge about the game for speed runs and hardcore play I plan to do. I need to know what is optimal, high risk, and what I can get away with.

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